GIG: Aesthetic Perfection (Manchester)

Our second visit to the Ruby Lounge in Manchester, and after the debacle that was getting there for Faderhead, this time it all went remarkably smoothly. We parked in the Arndale Centre car park right opposite and after a quick trip back to the car to collect the forgotten glow sticks, made our way down the stairs just in time to see Army of the Underground packing up their kit.

It was about a twenty minute wait for William Control, so we headed over to the bar to buy a couple of flat as fuck Rola Kola's (no way was that Pepsi). It was rather hot down here in the Ruby Lounge, but if we were hot William Control must have been cooking in his waistcoat and long sleeve shirt/tie.

As I kinda expected, he started well and quickly tailed off into being annoying and a bit of a knob. When I listened to his album it had much the same effect, but I still like the song 'Revelator'

Which of course he didn't play. Even though he made a video for it. Arse.

So by the end, Rose and I were feeling little but contempt, still... you can't deny his popularity and he is a good frontman.

Anyway, least said, soonest mended...

So we cooled off a bit between the bands and then just before AP came on we decided to get right to the front. Which was a good move in some respects, but no doubt we paid for it in sweat! It was flipping hot in there, but Daniel and the chaps put on a good show. Hilarious as always in his sparkly jacket and Fedora (which he played with like a cross between Jim Carrey in the Mask and Michael Jackson), Daniel led the troops through a great selection of tunes including 'The Ones', 'Love Like Lies', 'Antibody', 'The Siren', 'The New Black', 'The Great Depression'... even 'LAX' sounded good live and the band closed the show with 'Spit it Out'.

They played for about an hour all together, which was less than the signs on the wall suggested, but probably long enough. Besides, we were happy to leave a little earlier than expected with such a long journey home ahead of us. All in all, AP staked their claim for gig of the year and came out on top, narrowly beating Cyferdyne and Assemblage23. This was a much better show than the stripped down AP we saw supporting Mesh last year, and great to see Daniel enjoying himself so much onstage after Bristol where he was clearly ill.